Outstretched in painted reverie,
the canvas of my life
began with boyish ventures,
filled in when taking a wife.
Memories long erased
of the tempests in my youth
were muted by the hues
of wife’s goodness and truth.
The joys of our early love
matured with tones of pain
fate cast upon the ‘scape
we shared to mutual gain.
Ambitions were the fingers
that scribbled all through life
bold shades of the trials,
my triumphs suffused with strife.
Our children were the glow
fixed deftly to this scene
of politics and work, joys
shared, plans dreamed.
The years were quickly sketched,
their charted plan long gone,
and obsessions framed my needs
while wife stayed taut and strong.
I’ve come to my graying time
as she’s kept her girlish glow;
but our passion’s mine alone,
for now her colors muted show.
first published in SOUL SEARCH Chapbook
also published in Streams of Living Water Anthology
©2007 Bonnie Manion